Plant support device

ABSTRACT

An improved plant support device or clip is adapted to be utilized with an upright support strand of wire or twine. The clip includes a pair of arcuate arms which are closed to encircle the stem of the plant. As the arms are closed, the support strand is gripped by a clamp which holds the clip against movement along the strand. The clamp has gripping surfaces with offset elongated clamp ribs which securely grip the strand. A retaining rib extends transversely to the clamp ribs to prevent the strand from moving along the clamp ribs and becoming disengaged from the clamp. The arms of the clip are held in the closed position by a latch which can be readily released by resiliently deforming one of the clip arms.

United States Patent [1 1 Rybak June 19, 1973 [54] PLANT SUPPORT DEVICE3,518,791 7 1970 Carson et Ell 47 47 75 I to R'ch rd A. R bak, Dunedin,Fla. r I a y Primary Examiner-Robert E. Bagwill Asslgnee: The HansenManufactul'mg Attorney-J. Herman YOunt, Jr. and Calvin G.

Company, Cleveland, Ohio Coven [22] Filed: Jan. 3, 1972 [2]] App]. No.:214,775 [57] ABSTRACT An improved plant support device or clip isadapted to be utilized with an upright support strand of wire or [52]47/44 24/248 24,229 twine. The clip includes a pair of arcuate armswhich [5 I t Cl 3 are closed to encircle the stem of the plant. As thearms [-1. g are closed, the Support Strand is a clamp [58] Field ofSearch 24/248 Sli, 255 SL, which holds the clip against movement alongthe 24/249 R 47/44-47 strand. The clamp has gripping surfaces withoffset elon ated clam ribs which secure] ri the strand. A [56]References c retai ling rib ex iends transversely t: in: clamp ribs toUNITED STATES PATENTS prevent the strand from moving along the clampribs 2,818,871 H1958 Beaudry 24/255 SL and becoming disengaged from theclamp. The arms of 3,494,072 2/1970 Olson 47/44 the clip are held in theclosed position by a latch which 2,718,042 9/1955 Hokanson 24/259 A Xcan be readily rehased by resiliently d f i one f 3,461,876 8/1969Miller t 24/255 SL the clip arms 3,323,208 6/1967 Hurley 24/255 SL 7Claims, 8 Drawing Figures PLANT SUPPORT DEVICE This invention relates toa new and improved plant support device and more particularly to a clipwhich cooperates with a support element to hold a plant in a desiredposition.

Upright strands of wire or twine are commonly used to retain the stalksor stems of small plants, such as tomato plants, in an upright position.Although the plant stems can be tied to the upright support strand, thesupporting of plants has been facilitated by the use of clips, such asthe one shown in US. Pat. No. 3,494,072. Although several known types ofplant support clips have greatly facilitated the connecting of plantstems with a support strand, these clips have not, for one reason oranother, been entirely satisfactory in their operation. Specifically,with certain known plant clips difficulty is encountered in anchoringthe clips to the support strand. With other known plant clips,difficulty is encountered in opening the plant clips to move them alongthe support strand as the plants grow.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a new andimproved support device or clip for use in retaining a plant in adesired positional relationship with a support strand and wherein theclip includes a clamp having elongated ribs for preventing relativemovement between the support strand and the clip.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedsupport device or clip for retaining a plant in a desired positionalrelationship with a strand of material and wherein the clip includes aclamp having first and second sets of ribs which are offset relative toeach other along the strand of material so that the ribs clampinglyengage the strand of material at axially spaced apart locations toprevent relative movement between the clip and the strand.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedsupport device or clip which retains a plant in a desired positionalrelationship with a support element and includes a pair of arcuatelybowed arms which are held in a closed position encircling a stem orstalk of the plant by a latch and wherein the latch can be readilyreleased by merely pressing inwardly against one of the arms.

These and other objects and features of the present invention willbecome more apparent on a reading of the following description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a plant support clip constructed inaccordance with the present invention and depicting the supporting of aplant with the clip and an upright support strand;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the area designated 2-2 in FIG. I andillustrating the relationship of the support clip to the strand and thestem of the plant;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view, taken generally along a line 3-3 ofFIG. I, further illustrating the relationship between the uprightstrand, clip, and plant stem;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged side view of the plant support clip in a fullyopen position;

FIG. 5 is a plan view, taken generally along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4,illustrating the relationship between arcuately bowed arms, hinge,clamp, and latch portions of the support clip when it is in the fullyopen position;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken generally alongthe line 6-6 of FIG. 2, illustrating the relationship between a clampportion of the support clip and the upright support strand when the clipis in the closed position of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view, taken generally alongthe line 7-7 of FIG. 6, illustrating how the clamp portion of the clipgrips the upright support strand; and

FIG. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the area designated 8-8 inFIG. 3 and illustrating a latch assembly for holding the clip arms inthe closed position.

A plant support clip or device 10 constructed in accordance with thepresent invention is illustrated in FIG. I in association with a smallplant 12. The clip 10 grips an upright support strand 14 of wire ortwine (FIG. 2) and encircles a stem or stalk 18 of the plant 12 (FIG. 3)to hold the plant in a generally upright position. In accordance withcommon practice, the support strand 14 is connected with a generallyhorizontal main length of wire or twine 22 which extends along a row ofplants.

The plant support clip 10 is integrally molded of a resilient polymericmaterial with arcuately bowed clamp arms 26 and 28 in the fully openposition of FIG. 4. The clamp arms 26 and 28 are interconnected by aresiliently deflectable hinge 32. When the arms 26 and 28 are moved fromthe open positio n of FIG. 4 to encircle the stalk 18 of a plant, thehinge 32 is resiliently bent about its central axis 34. As the arms aremoved toward the closed position of FIGS. 2 and 3, a clamp 40 grips thestrand 14 (FIGS. 6 and 7) between a pair of clamp flanges 44 and 46having generally planar clamp surfaces 48 and 50. A set of clamp ribs 54on the clamp flange 44 cooperates with a set of clamp ribs 58 on theclamp flange 46 to firmly grip the strand 14.

To securely anchor the clip 10 on the strand 14, the two sets of ribs 54and 58 are offset relative to each other so that the support strand 14is deformed along a torturous or winding path see FIG. 6). Thus,parallel clamp ribs 62 and 64 extend perpendicular to the hinge axis 34and are offset along this axis relative to opposing parallel clamp ribs66, 68 and 70. The gripping action provided by the offset clamp ribs 62to 70 is particularly advantageous when the support strand 14 is made ofwire.

When the clip 10 is in the closed position, it is necessary to preventthe support strand 14 from moving along the clamp ribs 62 to 70 andbecoming disengaged from the clamp 40. Accordingly, the support strand14 is retained or trapped between the hinge 32 and a retaining rib 74which extends perpendicular to the clamp ribs 66, 68 and 70. Theretaining rib 74 advantageously projects further outwardly from theclamp surface 50 (see FIG. 4) than do the ribs 66, 68 and 70 so that theretaining rib cooperates with the clamp ribs 62 and 64 to entrap thestrand l4.

The arms 26 and 28 are held in the closed position of FIG. 3 by a latch80. The latch includes a catch 82 which is connected with the arm 26 andengages a latch flange 84 connected with the arm 28. The catch 82engages the flange 84, to hold the arms 26 and 28 in the closedposition. The catch 82 has a shank (FIG. 4) which is integrally formedwith and extends outwardly from a flange 94. A nose portion 96 projectsfrom the shank 90 toward the arcuately bowed arm 26 and has a latchsurface 98 which extends parallel to a surface 100 of the flange 94. Thelatch surface 98 engages a retaining surface 102 on the latch flange 84to hold the clip arms 26 and 28 in the closed position (see FIG. 8).

When the arms 26 and 28 move from the open position of FIG. 4 toward theclosed position of FIG. 3, an outer end portion 104 of the latch flange84 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) is moved into engagement with an arcuate camsurface 106 on the nose portion 96. If the arms 26 and 28 are properlyaligned with each other, the cam surface 106 is engaged by a followersurface 110 on the end portion 104 of the latch flange 84 (see FIG. 5).However, if the arms 26 and 28 are slightly skewed relative to eachother, one of a pair of inwardly sloping cam or guide surfaces 112 or114 will engage the nose 96 and tend to force or cam the arms 26 and 28into alignment with each other. Once the arms 26 and 28 have beenaligned, the surface 110 slides along the cam surface 106 on the nose 96toward the flange 94.

As the surface 110 slides along the cam surface 106 on the nose 96, thearm 28 is resiliently deformed inwardly, toward the position shown indashed lines in FIG. 8. This movement of the latch flange 84 decreasesthe arc of curvature of the arcuately bowed arm 28 to enable the latchflange 84 to pass under the nose 96 of the catch 82. Whenthis happens,the natural resilience of the arm 28 causes the arm to return to itsinitial configuration, shown in solid lines in FIG. 8, so that thesurface 110 on the end portion 104 moves into abutting engagement with astop surface 120 on the shank 90 of the catch 82 (FIG. 8). The naturalresilience of the hinge 32 then presses the retaining surface 102 on thelatch flange 84 into abutting engagement with the latch surface 98 onthe nose 96.

When the latch 80 is engaged, the arms 26 and 28 are held in the closedposition of FIG. 3 encircling the stem 18 of the plant 12. As the plant12 grows, it is necessary to move the clip 10 upwardly along the strand14 in order to properly support the plant. However, when the clip 10 isin the closed position of FIG. 3, the clamp 40 securely holds the clipagainst axial movement along the support strand 14. Therefore, the clip10 must be periodically opened and the clamp 40 released so that theclip can be moved vertically along the support strand 14 to properlyposition the clip 10 as the plant 12 grows.

To facilitate repositioning of the support clip 10, the clip can beopened with one hand by merely pressing inwardly with a forefingeragainst the resilient arm 28, in the manner indicated by the arrow 130in FIG. 8. Simultaneously therewith, the catch 82 is pressed outwardlywith the end of the forefinger. This causes the arc of curvature of thearm 28 to decrease to move the latch flange 84 inwardly from theposition shown in solid lines in FIG. 8 to the position shown in dashedlines. Of course, this moves the latch flange 84 out from under the noseportion 96 of the catch 82 so that the arms 26 and 28 can be moved apartunder the influence of the resiliently deformed hinge 32.

In view of the foregoing description, it can be seen that the supportclip 10 includes a pair of arms 26 and 28 which are pivotallyinterconnected by the hinge 32. When the arms are pivoted from the openposition of FIG. 4 toward the closed position of FIG. 3, the clamp 40 isclosed on the support strand 14 to hold the clip against movementrelative to the support strand. The arms 26 and 28 are held in theclosed position by the latch 80.

The clamp 40 is advantageously provided with a pair of opposed clampingsurfaces 48 and 50 from which elongated clamp ribs 62 to extend. Theribs on one of the clamp surfaces are offset relative to the ribs on theother clamp surface so that each of the ribs engages the strand 14 at anaxially offset or spaced apart loca tion from the other ribs. Aretaining rib 74 is advantageously provided to prevent the strand 14from being pulled out of the clamp 40.

Whenever it is necessary to move the clip 10 along the strand 14, theclip can be readily opened by pressing inwardly against arm 28 to movethe latch flange 84 away from the catch 82. When the latch flange 84 hascleared the nose 96 of the catch 82, the inherent resiliency of thehinge 32 will cause the arms 26 and 28 to move apart. Although the clip10 has been illustrated herein in association with a support strand 14of wire or twine, it is contemplated that the clip could be utilizedwith a support stake. If this was done, the clip would encircle both thestake and the stem 18 of a plant which is to be supported.

I claim:

1. A support device for use in retaining a plant in a desired positionalrelationship with a support strand of material, said support devicecomprising a pair of arms movable between an open position and a closedposition encircling a portion of the plant, hinge means operativelyinterconnecting said arms for enabling said arms to move between theopen and closed positions, latch means connected with said arms forreleasably retaining said arms in the closed position, and clamp meansconnected with said arms for holding said support device againstmovement along the strand of material when said arms are in the closedposition, said clamp means including a pair of opposed clamp surfacesfor grippingly engaging opposite sides of the strand of material whensaid arms are in the closed position and elongated rib means protrudingfrom at least one of said clamp surfaces for retaining the strand ofmaterial against movement relative to said clamp surfaces when said armsare in the closed position, said rib means including a first set ofparallel spaced apart ribs extending transversely to the longitudinalaxis of the strand of material and from one of'said clamp surfacestoward the other of said clamp surfaces, a second set of parallel spacedapart ribs extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the strandof material and protruding from the other of said clamp surfaces towardthe one clamp surface, each of the ribs of said first set of ribs beingoffset axially along the strand of material relative to each of the ribsof said second set of ribs to engage the strand of material at axiallyspaced apart locations along the strand of material, and a retaining ribprotruding from said one clamp surface toward said other clamp surfaceand extending transversely to said first set of ribs to retain thestrand of material against movement relative to said clamp surfaces in adirection extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the strandof material, said retaining rib being disposed adjacent to one endportion of said clamp surfaces opposite from said one end portion withthe strand of material entrapped between said hinge means and saidretaining rib when said arms are in the closed position.

2. A support device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said retaining ribprotrudes from said one clamp surface toward the other clamp surface toa greater extent than said first set of ribs to further promoteentrapment of the strand of material between said hinge means and saidretaining rib when said arms are in the closed position.

3. A support device as set forth in claim 1 wherein one of said arms hasan arcuate bowed portion formed of a resiliently deflectable material,said latch means including a retaining surface connected with said onearm and a catch connected with the other arm for engaging said retainingsurface when said latch means is retaining said arms in the closedposition, said arcuate bowed portion of said one arm being resilientlydeform able from a first curvature in which said retaining surface isengaged by said catch to a second curvature in which said retainingsurface is spaced from said catch to release said arms for movement fromthe closed position to the open position.

4. A support device as set forth in claim 3 wherein said catch includesa latch surface and said hinge means includes means for urging saidretaining and latch surfaces into abutting engagement when said latchmeans is retaining said arms against movement relative to each other.

5. A support device as set forth in claim 4 further including cam meansfor positioning said retaining and latch surfaces in a predeterminedorientation relative to each other upon operation of said arms from theopen position to the closed position.

6. A support device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said arms, hingemeans, latch means and clamp means are integrally molded with said hingemeans and clamp means disposed intermediate said arms.

7. A support device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said clamp meansincludes an elongated rib having a longitudinal axis extending generallyparallel to a longitudinal axis of said support element when said armsare in the closed position.

1. A support device for use in retaining a plant in a desired positionalrelationship with a support strand of material, said support devicecomprising a pair of arms movable between an open position and a closedposition encircling a portion of the plant, hinge means operativelyinterconnecting said arms for enabling said arms to move between theopen and closed positions, latch means connected with said arms forreleasably retaining said arms in the closed position, and clamp meansconnected with said arms for holding said support device againstmovement along the strand of material when said arms are in the closedposition, said clamp means including a pair of opposed clamp surfacesfor grippingly engaging opposite sides of the strand of material whensaid arms are in the closed position and elongated rib means protrudingfrom at least one of said clamp surfaces for retaining the strand ofmaterial against movement relative to said clamp surfaces when said armsare in the closed position, said rib means including a first set ofparallel spaced apart ribs extending transversely to the longitudinalaxis of the strand of material and from one of said clamp surfacestoward the other of said clamp surfaces, a second set of parallel spacedapart ribs extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the strandof material and protruding from the other of said clamp surfaces towardthe one clamp surface, each of the ribs of said first set of ribs beingoffset axially along the strand of material relative to each of the ribsof said second set of ribs to engage the strand of material at axiallyspaced apart locations along the strand of material, and a retaining ribprotruding from said one clamp surface toward said other clamp surfaceand extending transversely to said first set of ribs to retain thestrand of material against movement relative to said clamp surfaces in adirection extending transversely to the longitudinal axis of the strandof material, said retaining rib being disposed adjacent to one endportion of said clamp surfaces opposite from said one end portion withthe strand of material entrapped between said hinge means and saidretaining rib when said arms are in the closed position.
 2. A supportdevice as set forth in claim 1 wherein said retaining rib protrudes fromsaid one clamp surface toward the other clamp surface to a greaterextent than said first set of ribs to further promote entrapment of thestrand of material between said hinge means and said retaining rib whensaid arms are in the closed position.
 3. A support device as set forthin claim 1 wherein one of said arms has an arcuate bowed portion formedof a resiliently deflectable material, said latch means including aretaining surface connected with said one arm and a catch connected withthe other arm for engaging said retaining surface when said latch meansis retaining said arms in the closed position, said arcuate bowedportion of said one arm being resiliently deformable from a firstcurvature in which said retaining surface is engaged by said catch to asecond curvature in which said retaining surface is spaced from saidcatch to release said arms for movement from the closed position to theopen position.
 4. A support device as set forth in claim 3 wherein saidcatch includes a latch surface and said hinge means includes means forurging said retaining and latch surfaces into abutting engagement whensaid latch means is retaining said arms against movement relative toeach other.
 5. A support device as set forth in claim 4 furtherincluding cam means for positioning said retaining and latch surfaces ina predetermined orientation relative to each other upon operation ofsaid arms from the open position to the closed position.
 6. A supportdevice as set forth in claim 1 wherein said arms, hinge means, latchmeans and clamp means are integrally molded with said hinge means andclamp means disposed intermediate said arms.
 7. A support device as setforth in claim 1 wherein said clamp means includes an elongated ribhaving a longitudinal axis extending generally parallel to alongitudinal axis of said support element when said arms are in theclosed position.